The film-maker said he would be moving to the UK capital at the end of this year to begin production on Star Wars: Episode VII. The Super 8 director has shot all his previous films in Los Angeles, where he lives with his family, even covering costs out of his own pocket to remain local for this year's Star Trek Into Darkness.

He told the Produced By conference, also in LA, that he was not looking forward to uprooting, admitting that the decision to shoot in Britain "really does make me insane". He said, of his children's reaction: "When you're 13 and 14, it's like, fuck that, I don't care what the movie is."

The move by Disney has a certain historical resonance, however: all of the six previous Star Wars movies have included UK production time, in studios such as Elstree, Shepperton, Leavesden, Ealing and Pinewood. Abrams said he was looking forward to putting his own spin on the next instalment. "It is so massive and so important to people," he said. "I think the key to moving forward on something like this is honouring but not revering what came before."

Star Wars: Episode VII is scheduled to arrive in cinemas in 2015, with two sequels following in 2017 and 2019. Disney, which bought Lucasfilm, owner of the rights to Star Wars, in October last year for $4.05bn, has hired Toy Story 3's Michael Arndt to write the first instalment. The film is expected to feature Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher returning to their original roles of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia.

The producer of the first ever Star Wars and its sequel, The Empire Strikes Back, on why JJ Abrams is likely to be holding open auditions for Episode VII, and how he and George Lucas chose many of the original cast